Delusions of Deadly Lips
by Tikal Tyrant
Summary: A look into Hojo's mind as well as the events leading up to his death. Even obsessions and fear can develop under the right circumstances. Masanobu Hojo/Sadayo Suzumura.


**Delusions of Deadly Lips:**

A Homo/Sadako story.

Why is she even here? She's always following me. Always watching me. Why? And at a time like this even.

I don't know which is worse, a group of loud, obnoxious girls constantly trying to start conversations with me, or a silent stalker who follows me wherever I go? The group of girls who follow me into convenience stores to try to flirt are definitely the more annoying, but she is just plain scary.

People are always talking about their first encounters with people. For the most part though, I don't remember any of my first meetings with people. That's how this was, too. Everything happened so gradually that I can't even remember when I first noticed her. All I know is that at some point, this bitch started following me.

After gigs, when I left my house, when I went to the store; Hell, I've even seen her looking in on me at school. I know she's only a girl, but it really freaked me out. But what was I suppose to do? If I reported her, word would spread that I couldn't even handle a female fawning over me, and I didn't need to have my sexuality questioned any more than it already was.

Though I bet the media would get a kick out of it.

Believe me though, I didn't automatically brand her with the title of "stalker." At first, I believed her to be just a fangirl. Yeah, an obsessive fangirl who was just too shy to approach me, but after so long, there was no questioning it.

This bitch was a crazy stalker.

I suppose she sealed her own fate when she stowed away behind me on that bike. I've got to admit though, she was one dedicated stalker to follow me even through death.

Damn. Wording it that way, it sounds like I'm making light of the situation.

I don't know why I was shocked that she still followed me after going to that room. It's not like anything had changed, and besides, I was the only person in a room full of strangers who she knew. Not that this was an honor I was at all fond of.

I think it was around this point when I began to feel less threatened. I thought she only hid around me, but in this room, she hid from everyone. I almost felt bad for her until I remembered how she had been stalking me for half a year. I had to catch myself a few times during that first, horrifying mission when I almost talked to her. I blame those "almost" moments on lonely human nature. She still freaked me out whenever she spontaneously appeared behind me.

After that first mission ended, my life went back to normal for the most part. She still followed me, but I didn't feel threatened. It was still annoying as Hell. I mean, like Hell would I ever be okay with it. It's not like I enjoyed the thought of never having another moment of privacy.

Eventually, like those guys had said, we went back to that room.

She scared the crap out of me when she transferred in right behind me, but I probably reacted more than necessary. It was almost like it was our routine. She appears out of no where and I freak out. Almost like some comedy act.

I gotta admit, it almost felt nice to be one of the "experienced" players. It felt like all the new guys were looking to me. Sure, I didn't go completely ballistic like Kurono did, but I felt like I held my own pretty well against those big Buddhist statues. I even jumped in to stop that giant Buddha foot from crushing that one guy. Of course, I wasn't originally even going to help the moron, but that leader guy was going to get him and his girl killed if I didn't help.

I didn't even know I had the courage to perform a selfless act like that.

That was the first time I ever saw her face, and in that instant, a realization hit me. She was human.

Her body trembled and looked a bit strange with the suit bulking up to hold up the enormous foot, but her face was actually very cute. She had a stern look on her round face, which was covered in beads of sweat. Her eyes were fixated on me. Had she only dove in to help me?

Luckily, we managed to hold up that foot until the guy finally left, but we were crushed into the ground in the end. I was thankful for that distasteful suit then, even if I would never wear it in public.

When we split into groups, she went with me. Well, I expected as much. I actually tried to talk her into letting me see her face again, but she only got nervous. I guess she really was shy after all. Geeze, you'd think when someone finally gets attention from the person they've been obsessively stalking, they'd take it without question. That's women for you.

Honestly though, more than a cute face, she even had my preference of body type. She wasn't some overly busty broad like all the girls my friends and agent try to hook me up with. It's funny how when you stop thinking of someone as a freak, and start thinking of them as a person, you can actually see so many things you would have never considered before.

Inside the temple with the no-suits, I felt like a leader. I was the strongest person there, but I was still no match for the statues. That American karate guy was taken out fast enough, so my determination was thinning. She must have been feeling quite overwhelmed as well cause she hid in the corner as soon as we got inside. Then again, maybe that's just her nature.

"Run for your lives!" I yelled to the two remaining no-suits. "Get out of here!"

We were surrounded and I felt obligated to protect them, but there was no fucking way I could kill these four aliens on my own. I could only hope my stalker was a good fighter.

"Sakado, I'll be needing your help!" So screw it if I never took the time to learn her name. She knew who I was talking to. Besides, who asks their stalker something like that?

"You two behind me, do whatever it takes to get out of here," I said. "Get the others to help us!"

Just then, I heard a loud explosion to my right. I saw the right-most statue get his arm blown to bits, but I was more concerned about not knowing when the Hell it had gotten so close to me. I looked, and there she was with her X-gun aimed right at the alien.

While I took the opportunity to stare in awe at my stalker-gone-savior, the no-suits took the opportunity to get the Hell out of there.

She moved closer to me, getting back-to-back with me as the Buddhist statues surrounded us. We were both scared shitless, but we had no other choice.

"You know, we're the only ones capable of defeating these monsters," I said, looking back at her.

Almost immediately after I said that, my gun was knocked out of my hand. I watched it skid across the floor as my jaw hung open. I was completely lost of what to do as the one-armed statue's feet dragged on the floor, closing in on me from behind. It held its heavy, metal fist above my head, threatening to let it come crashing down on my skull. In an act of desperation, I swung my fist at it. My suit bulked up as the back of my fist cracked hard against its neck, sending it flying to the back of the temple.

I was panting and shaking. That was closest I had ever come to death. Even against those bird things, I hadn't felt that much fear. Looking back, I noticed she must have knocked over the alien that knocked away my gun because it was flat on its back with a nasty looking impact mark on its chest.

"Sakako... are you alright?" I asked between pants. I don't know if she was too scared or just too shy, but I had to assume she was okay as long as she was still breathing and standing.

I think we both stopped breathing for a moment when the rumbling sound of a moving statue came from the multi-armed alien that had remained stationary until now. As if our morale could go any lower, and surprisingly it could, we had to deal with another alien when we couldn't even kill the first four.

This alien Buddhist statue stood tall with many arms fanned out behind it. In each of its hands, it held a different object. From swords and a staff to sake cups, as well as random little objects, and in one hand, it held a large vase that it gripped around the neck.

We stared silently at the towering monster. We had no idea what kind of abilities it could possibly have. It could be weak compared to those other four as far as we knew. We could only pray so, though we would soon find out it would have been in vain.

"You'd better make a break for it," I said, my voice wavering uncontrollably. "Run... Sakako..."

"No," she said.

"Huh?" I looked back at her in disbelief. The first thing she ever said to me was an opposition. No, the first time she ever spoke to me was on the bike, right? No, she had spoken before then, hadn't she? Dammit, what does it matter, if we're about to die?

Those were my thoughts in that brief moment. I don't even remember what she had said on that bike the moments before we died. I really never noticed her. How could I have never noticed such a sweet, caring voice?

"Look out!" she said, shoving me sideways with her butt. The multi-armed statue's sword swung down between us. She lifted her gun and shot 1000-arms in the face.

"Nice shot!" I yelled.

After a moment, it's face bulged as expected. What wasn't expected was when it pulled back in, returning to normal and completely unaffected by the X-gun's blast. Both our mouths fell wide open with a mix of shock and fear.

Suddenly, the alien swung its staff down at the girl, hitting her solidly against her side, throwing her sideways and to the ground as her gun was thrown away from her.

"Sakako!" I shouted, running to her. "Dammit, why aren't the others here yet. Get up. Get up and get the fuck out of here!"

Just then, I felt a cold splash on my back that instantly turned to burning. I shouted out in pain, and the girl looked at me with the most concern and worry that I've ever received. I turned to look at 1000-arms, and I saw the vase gripped in its foremost hand. It was dripping with a green liquid. I could feel the liquid burning into my back and spine with the strangest mix of freezing exposure and chemical burning. Acid?

An object in one of the alien's hands began to light up, but I was too distracted by everything to even think anything of it.

"Hojo-sama!" she screamed, lunging up and jumping between me and 1000-arms. She grabbed onto my shoulders, about to push me back, when a laser shot out from the lighted object.

It cut though her ribs and went through her, cutting into my abdomen. Together, we shouted out in agony as the beam sliced through our bodies. My upper half fell backwards, hitting the ground weightless and free from my lower half. I felt the girl land on top of me, also missing her lower half.

My vision was fading, and everything was going cold. Even the warmth from her body was disappearing. Still, she pulled herself toward me. Her scent filled me for the first time. She smelled sweetly even through the sweat and blood. Her lips pressed against mine, and my arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer.

Snow was falling lightly from the white, cloud-blanketed sky as she pulled me down the snow-laden trail.

"C'mon, Masanobu," she said, releasing her hold on my hand. "We're going to miss it if we don't hurry."

"But it's so cold, Sadayo," I explained, rubbing my gloved hands together. My jacket wasn't doing much good despite how puffy it was. "Hold up a moment."

Sadayo spun around to look at me, her long, cream jacket flying out from her white dress. Her black snow boots crunched audibly against the snow. "We can't. We have to go now."

"Why did it have to be on a day when it was so damn cold, though?" I complained.

"Geeze. Masanobu," she said, walking back to me. She grabbed onto a low branch that hung above me, lightly twirling the evergreen needles. "If you walk, you'll warm up faster than if you stay still."

"I can't even move my legs," I said. She looked up at me with her eyebrows lifted and a mischievous smile on her face.

Suddenly, she gripped the branch and gave it one good jerk, releasing it and letting the clumps of snow fall down on top of me. I was covered in freezing snow.

"Sadayo!" I exclaimed.

"I'm sorry!" she said, clasping her hands together and lowering her head. "But now you have to go unless you really wanna freeze."

I sighed, stuffing my hands in my pocket. "Fine."

We walked together down the trail, watching the snow flakes whir past us. I pulled a hand out of my coat pocket and grabbed onto her own, smaller hand. Eventually, we made it to an arched bridge over a frozen river. We walked up it until we reached the highest point.

"Look," she said, arching her head back to look into the sky. I only stared at her. She was so beautiful with her face uncovered; her smooth, black hair tucked behind her ear. Her large, black eyes gazed upward with a smile on her finely pale lips. Her cheeks were red from the cold, as I'm sure mine were, too.

"Masanobu," she repeated, "look."

I followed her gaze, and in the abundance of clouds was a large hole just above us, and in that hole, small darts of light crossed a night's sky. At first, only a few shooting stars crossed the sky, but soon, the number grew. Lots of tiny streaks arched in the dark sky.

"I'm sorry it never got to be like this," she said. I took my eyes away and looked at her. She looked sad.

"No," I said desperately. "Sadayo, don't."

"But it's okay," she said, "because I got to end it with you."

I grabbed her hand, a feeling of desperation growing in me. "I don't want to end it. We never even got to do anything!" I could feel the tears building in my eyes, and I could see them in hers as well.

"I've always loved you," she said. The tears fell from her eyes and streamed down her face. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you properly."

"Please stop!" I yelled, gripping her hands tightly. My tears felt hot against my frozen cheeks. "Sakako!"

She slipped her hands out of my grip and placed them on my shoulders. On her tip-toes, she pressed her lips firmly against mine.

More and more shooting stars flew across the starry sky in the hole in the clouds until everything became one big bright light.

She was my stalker, but in the end, she was my lover, always protecting me.

I can still feel her, though my vision is barely lingering. Her scent has filled my lungs, and my arms are wrapped around her. Our lower halves have been forgotten, and soon, so will the rest of us. This is how we will spend eternity, our lips pressed together as we hold onto each other. Forever, me and my cute stalker.


End file.
